Building capacity

As a funder we have supported capacity building work through a number of investments and with research. We’ve noted it can be helpful to break the generic concept of ‘capacity building’ down into capacity and capability, to offer clearer insight to discussion about ‘what works’.

We know that voluntary and community sector groups need the right skills, knowledge and experience – or capabilities - to carry out projects successfully and to develop and run their organisations more effectively.

At the same time, to achieve their mission – or even to develop capabilities to do so – individual organisations need capacity to think and act.

The collective capacity and capabilities of the sector can also be enhanced with measures to bring new money into the sector, create new organisations or to develop new strengths in the way it organises itself and collaborates with others.

Put simply, ‘capacity’ describes how much you can do and ‘capability’ is how well you can do it. This distinction helps us to see important interdependencies between the two; For example, to concentrate on developing capabilities you need to have the available time (capacity) to plan, organise and reflect on developing new skills.

At Big Lottery Fund, we support both capability building and capacity building in a number of ways, as part of our work to support a stronger sector. And we draw on research to help inform our approach.

Here are some of the key learning points from our research and evaluations, and some of the things we do, or are planning to do, in response:

Factors for success

Our research has identified capacity and capability building functions and ingredients that can help organisations to be successful, including:

Capability

appropriate skills among staff and volunteers at all levels, for project work and for organisational management

tailored development support via a clear diagnostic process that enables change to take root in the organisation.

Capacity:

links to organisations working with similar aims and beneficiaries (especially for communities of interest) as it enables effective engagement and consultation (-networking is the most widely used aspect of capacity building)

adequate premises and equipment

appropriate marketing, and links with wider stakeholder organisations

adequate funding and planning for all of the above.

Things we’ve found to be important in building capabilities include:

A diagnostic process (or organisational strength review) to:

establish which strengths/ weakness/ opportunities to focus on given the organisation’s context, purpose and stage of development

identify what kind of pack of support will best deliver and embed new capabilities in the organisation given its particular structure

Sufficient ‘readiness’ to make use of development help, including capacity to make staff available to participate and, the leadership to make sure that new skills are sustainably embedded into the organisation’s practice

Choosing suppliers with the relevant expertise or flexibility

Keeping suppliers of diagnostic support and development separate – to avoid conflict of interest

Keeping our decisions about funding development support separate from our decisions about funding projects – to help groups feel relaxed about taking up the offer and free to think about their whole organisation’s development.

Benefits

The benefits of organisational development can be widely felt. We’ve seen that it can lead to:

improvements in organisational and service management with a greater ability to forward plan and achieve sustainability

opportunities to work more effectively or in new ways

increased understanding of the importance of measuring impact and ability to report on outcomes

ability to attract more funding.

Challenges and solutions

Like many things of value, building these strengths isn’t always easy. We’ve seen that particular challenges for organisations include:

insufficient resources and time

lack of recognition that organisational development is relevant

difficulty accessing technical support like advice on employment

difficulties with a focus on weaknesses

finding funding for support.

These challenges can be particularly acute for micro and smaller organisations including those that are at early stages, contemplating employing staff or working with the most excluded or isolated communities.

We can help organisations overcome these challenges (and improve our support offer) by using test and learn initiatives that:

Make additional capability building funding available for grant holders

Support groups to develop by building on their strengths and making ‘readiness’ part of the initial development review process

Enable groups to use a proportion of development funding to free up staff with the time to take part in development

Use accessible outreach mechanisms and everyday language to engage small groups – including those who may not even think of themselves as organisations or part of a sector that can access support

Make the market of providers and diagnosers of support more visible and help groups find quality suppliers of external expertise

Stimulate groups’ appetite for development and encourage them to use full cost recovery to help fund their future capability building.

As we do this we will be working to:

Improve our knowledge of ‘what works’ in building groups’ capabilities

Explore the relationships between diagnosers, users and suppliers of support, to understand how these affect its impact

Look where possible for indicators of the knock-on benefits experienced by projects' beneficiaries.

More about the research

Below is a summary of studies we have commissioned. You can download these studies using the links at the end of this page.

Better by Design: a design-led approach to sustainability

The Better by Design programme ran over two years in Scotland and was an innovative, experimental approach to supporting the third sector to embrace change and become more sustainable. Rather than offering traditional funding the programme instead offered a package of free, intensive, expert and bespoke support to 15 organisations who developed a range of design tools, techniques and mindsets. Drawing on an asset-based approach, Better by Design supported participants to challenge habitual ways of thinking and doing, utilise existing capabilities and become more resilient.

Building Capabilities

The Third Sector Research Centre carried out a scoping study for us to review all the evidence available about capacity and capability building. This has helped us identify the steps needed to deliver an effective tailored support approach – including the importance of a diagnostic process.

Capacity-building and small organisations

We commissioned IVAR to help us think about how we can best support small groups to improve their skills and confidence. The study identified some of complexities of capacity-building.

Developing Communities Scotland

Developing Communities Scotland didn’t specify capacity building as a programme objective but did allow organisations scope for that if it was a priority for them. We commissioned Reid-Howie Associates to find out whether the funding did in fact improve organisations’ overall capacity.

Support and development for grant holders

We commissioned CLES to evaluate our contracts to organisations that can support applicants and grant holders. We wanted to find out how useful these contracts are and whether they provided value for money.

Supporting Change and Impact

Supporting Change and Impact was a two-pronged investment launched in 2011. It helped grant-holders to better plan and sustain the benefits of their projects. It also enabled grant holders to buy development support from specialist providers of their choosing. We commissioned Rocket Science to evaluate the programme.